The Hidden Cost of 'Healthy' Eating: Are You Paying for Nutrition or Marketing?

• The article highlights a growing disparity in 2026 where 'healthy' eating costs are driven by marketing and belief rather than just nutritional value.
• It contrasts expensive 'high-protein' snacks and probiotic yogurts with traditional, more affordable options like roasted chana, curd, and eggs, which offer similar or better nutritional benefits.
• Studies from The BMJ, The Lancet, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health indicate that ultra-processed foods, even when marketed as healthy, are linked to poorer health outcomes.
• The piece argues that health has become a product category, leading consumers to choose expensive, processed solutions over traditional, simple foods due to convenience and marketing.
• The real hidden cost is the conditioning to distrust simple, traditional foods and overvalue packaged, often less nutritious, alternatives.

Why It Matters: The rising cost of 'healthy' eating often reflects marketing and convenience, not superior nutrition.